Last weekend my friend, Marissa and I went to explore Broadstairs, Kent. We’ve been visiting seaside towns in Kent every few months, my last post was about Whitstable and I still dream about the Lobster Lasagna we had at Wheelers Oysters Bar. We have to go back! 

We usually book a restaurant in advance and have the full day to explore the town, and this time we booked The Tartar Frigate, which was facing the seafront. The journey from London Victoria to Broadstairs took an hour and 50 minutes on the Southeastern train. It went quickly for us as we had so much to catch up on.  

Broadstairs

We arrived an hour before our lunch reservation, so we decided to wonder around the high street, where we stumbled upon a gift shop called Native Self. They had a lot of self care products from ayurvedic sleep oil to self-love cards. Unfortunately, they don’t have a website up yet as they just opened, however, they did say it will be up after Christmas, I will definitely be looking out for that! 

The Tartar Frigate was easy to find as it was a straight road from the station and then a left turn at the end of the road. When we got to the pub we were told that the restaurant was upstairs.  

We were greeted with a warm friendly smile from our waiters who welcomed us to our table. They were celebrating their 30th anniversary as we noticed banners around the room. We had already known what we wanted before we even sat down, anything with seafood. They had a daily specials board that looked inviting, sadly they didn’t have the Dover Sole or the lobster but, they did have the Sea Bream which was locally sourced, and Marissa chose their Bouillabaisse – French fish soup, served with rouille dressing and sourdough croutons. 

For our starters, we both chose the scallops in coeliac but unfortunately, it wasn’t to our personal taste however the scallops were nicely done. I accompanied my food with a small bottle of prosecco which went nicely with the seafood dishes, Marissa opted for a large glass of coke.  

When my sea bream arrived, I was surprised by how big the fish was, definitely enough for two people to share. Not long after, Marissa’s fish stew arrived and it was a huge portion too. Sides came with our dishes but if I’m honest it wasn’t necessary.  

The options for our side were steamed seasonal vegetables, new potatoes, hand-cut chips, sauté potatoes, and peas. We chose the steamed veg, chips, and new potatoes.  

Marissa’s fish stew was very rich in flavour and the skatefish was good, however, the crispy croutons sunk to the bottom but all in all a very tasty dish. I thought my seabream was delicious too, and perfectly cooked with a lot of flavour – I loved how the chorizo gave it an extra salty flavour and it worked well with the other flavours. We were so stuffed by the time we finished and couldn’t even fit dessert in, but we took the rest of the veg with us as we both hate food waste. We were gutted that we didn’t have enough room for dessert but it’s a good excuse to come back as we heard their local delicacy was Gypsy Tart!  

We had a lovely experience dining at The Tartar Frigate, the staff were friendly and very insightful. If you love to try their food, allow yourself to have an empty stomach before arriving, as I was sad, I couldn’t fit any dessert in.  

Next, we went to their local arcade, Broadstairs Leisure Group we saw this on the way to the restaurant and we both were excited to play a few of our favourite games before exploring the rest of the town, we could have easily spent the rest of the day there!  

After much fun at the arcade, we decided to walk along the coast of Broadstairs beach towards Dumpton Gap and onto Ramsgate, altogether it took us about 45 minutes to walk there. The scenery was beautiful and we were so lucky with the weather.  

When we arrived at Ramsgate, we saw a seafood shack and rushed over but sadly all the seafood had sold out. We were hoping to try their local oysters as Marissa, and I are obsessed!   

However, we soldiered on and wondered around the town, meandering in charity shops and other independent stores. We took the loop bus back to Broadstairs, to catch the next train back to London.  

We thought it was a lovely day trip and would come back to try their Gypsy tart and local oysters, and maybe spend more time in the arcade.  

Our next stop is Southend on Sea, Essex ✌️